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Marcel Kittel of Germany won the second stage of the Tour de France on Sunday while three-time champion Chris Froome was caught in a crash. Froome fell along with multiple riders in soaking wet conditions about 20 miles from the finish of the 126-mile leg from Duesseldorf, Germany to Liege, Belgium, but the British star did not lose any time. The crash also took down last year's runner-up, Romain Bardet of France.
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"I have no injuries thankfully -- I've just lost a little bit of skin on my backside. That's the nature of the race," Froome told reporters afterwards.
Froome's Sky teammate, Geraint Thomas, held on to the leader's yellow jersey.
"Obviously it was a stressful day in the rain and with that tumble," Thomas said. "We all knew (Froome) was OK. It was just a matter of getting him back on.
"It was stressful. You kind of forget what the Tour is like. The weather didn't help things at all."
Froome had to change bikes as three teammates paced him back to the peloton.
Thomas, who won the opening time trial Saturday, remained five seconds ahead of Swiss rider Stefan Kueng in the overall standings. Kittel moved up to third overall, six seconds behind Thomas, after getting a 10-second bonus for winning the race's first full road stage. Froome is sixth, 12 seconds behind.
Kittel dropped to the ground and started crying after he crossed the finish line in four hours, 37 minutes over the mostly flat leg.
"I'm super happy, super proud," Kittel said. "It was a very special win for me."
Arnaud Demare of France finished second, Andre Greipel of Germany crossed third and Mark Cavendish of Britain was fourth.
The Tour remains in Belgium for the start of Stage 3 on Monday, a 132-mile leg from Verviers to Longwy, France, that passes through Luxembourg.
